Sacramental Christianity - Chambers, Oswald
The word sacramental must be understood to mean the real presence of Christ being conveyed through the actual elements of the speech and natural life of a christian. Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, that is, confess with every part of me that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh come, not only historically, but in my flesh.
1. Sacramental service
But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our lord Jesus Christ, through whom[mg] the world hath been crucified unto me, and i unto the world. (Galatians 6:14 RV )
By the cross of Christ i am saved from sin; by the cross of Christ i am sanctified; but i never am a sacramental disciple until i deliberately lay myself on the altar of the cross, and give myself over emphatcally and entirely to be actually what i am potentially in the sight of god, viz. , a member of the body of Christ. When i swing clear of myself and my own consciousness and give myself over to Jesus Christ, he can use me as a sacrament to nourish other lives.
Most of us are on the borders of consciousness, consciously serving, consciously devoted to god; it is all immature, it is not the life yet. Maturity is the life of a child a child is never consciously child like so abandoned to god that the thought of being made broken bread and poured-out wine no longer unseals the fountain of tears. When you are consciously being used as broken bread and poured-out wine you are interested in your own martyrdom, it is consciously costing you some- thing; when you are laid on the altar of the cross all consciousness of self is gone, all consciousness of what you are doing for god, or of what god is doing through you, is gone. It is no longer possible to talk about my experience of sanctification; you are brought to the place where you understand what is meant by our lords words, ye shall be my witnesses (RV ). Wherever a saint goes, everything he or she does becomes a sacrament in gods hands, unconsciously to himself. You never find a saint being consciously used by god; he uses some casual thing you never thought about, which is the surest evidence that you have got beyond the stage of conscious sanctification, you are beyond all consciousness because god is taking you up into his consciousness; you are his, and life becomes the natural simple life of a child. To be everlastingly on the look-out to do some work for god means i want to evade sacramental service i want to do what i want to do. Main- tain the attitude of a child towards god and he will do what he likes with you. If god puts you on the shelf it is in order to season you. If he is pleased to put you in limited circumstances so that you cannot go out into the highways of service, then enter into sacramental service. Once you enter that service, you can enter no other.
2. Sacramental fellowship
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. ( john 12:24)
If you are wondering whether you are going on with god, examine yourself in the light of these words. The more spiritually real i become, the less am i of any account, i become more and more of the nature of a grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying in order that it may bring forth fruit. He must increase, but i must decrease. I only decrease as he increases, and he only increases in me as i nourish his life by that which decreases me. Am i willing to feed the life of the son of god in me? If so, then he increases in me. There is no pathos in johns words, but delight, would to god i could decrease more quickly! If a man attracts by his personality, then his appeal must come along the line of the particular work he wishes to do; but stand identified with the personality of your lord, like john the baptist, and the appeal is for his work to be done. The danger is to glory in men what a wonderful personality! If when people get blessed they sentimentally moon around me, i am to blame because in my heart i lay the flattering unction to myself that it is because of my way of putting things they begin to idealise the one who should be being made broken bread and poured-out wine for them. Beware of stealing souls for whom Christ died for your own affectionate wealth.
3. Sacramental responsibility
Now i rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his bodys sake, which is the church. (colossians 1:24 RV)
By sacramental responsibility understand the solemn determination to keep myself notably my lords, and to treat as a subtle temptation of the devil the call to take on any responsibility that conflicts with my determined identification with his interests. Gods one great interest in men is that they are redeemed; am i identifying myself with that interest? Notice where god puts his disapproval on human experiences, it is when we begin to adhere to our conception of what sanctification is, and forget that sanctification itself has to be sanctified. When we see Jesus we will be ashamed of our deliberately conscious experience of sanctification, that is the thing that hinders him, because instead of other people seeing Jesus in me, they see me and not Jesus. We have to be sacramental elements in his hands, not only in word but in actual life. After sanctification it is difficult to state what your aim in life is, because god has taken you up into his purposes. The design for gods service is that he can use the saint as his hands or his feet. Jesus taught that spiritually we should grow as the lilies, bringing out the life that god blesses.